Page 12 of The Demon Court

“You’ve got her square of fabric in your pocket.” It uncoiled itself from his shoulders and slithered onto his lap. Affection then nudged his front breast pocket where he did have that fabric.

“Only because I haven’t thrown it out yet,” he replied. Cross with the spirit, he pulled out the fabric and intended to toss it onto the ground but... Then he smelled her again.

That cold scent of peppermint struck him hard. It reminded him of the coming winter and how the first real snow always blanketed the land in silence. It was a beautiful moment. Cold and glittering and quiet.

Why would a scrap of fabric make him think of that? It was foolish. Ridiculous. A woman shouldn’t make him feel like this and yet...

He lifted the fabric to his nose and inhaled deeply.

Maybe Affection was right. There was something about her that lingered in his mind, no matter how hard he tried to ignore her. She wasn’t different, though. She wasn’t anything new other than a woman who seemed to think rather highly of herself. He’d seen people like her come and go throughout his life for centuries now.

“Maybe,” Affection started quietly. “She’s not new. She’s not someone that will change your mind about the world or all that you’ve done. But she might be entertaining for a while. You’ve surrounded yourself with the same kinds of people for such a long time, Lust. She might not be someone you haven’t met before, but trust me when I say she might be new enough to make things interesting around here again.”

Ugh, he hated it when the damned spirit was right. It always gloated for hours on end after he admitted it.

“Fine,” he muttered. “I’ll send out a few messengers to see if they can find where the hell she got off to.”

“Why would you do that?”

“You just said you thought I should bring her back here.” He stood, dumping the spirit onto the ground. “You were the one who thought up this plan, and now I will enact it. My patience has limits, Affection.”

And with that, he strode back inside the castle.

He’d need to talk with the captain of the guard. The man might be a little difficult to manage, but he did his job well. Hamish had seen many attacks on the castle and had even stopped an assassination attempt all on his own. Though it might have been foolish to risk his very mortal life for a very immortal spirit, Lust appreciated it all the same. If anyone could find her, it was Hamish.

“Lust!” Affection called through the hall, slithering along the floor as it desperately tried to catch up to him. “I’m not finished!”

Yes, well, the spirit would never be finished if he let it keep talking. The damned thing liked the sound of its own voice.

The captain would need to know more about the woman to hunt her down. He had a feeling that would prove more difficult than any of them expected. She was a wily little thing, especially having already slipped away from him. First, they would start back in Greenbank.

Why she’d been there, he had no idea. She clearly wasn’t a local with clothing like that. And she certainly hadn’t been following him since Sapphire Falls. That was the first lie he’d caught her in, but he had a feeling it was the easiest. She’d had no idea where she was.

And she’d reacted like a tourist, he realized, slowing as he approached the captain’s station. She’d moved in the tavern as though intensely uncomfortable. All the more reason to be certain she was a ploy from Minerva to get him under her thumb.

He didn’t want to make a kingdom wide manhunt for her. The last thing she needed was to be dragged to this castle in chains by a group of militia who thought they were doing the right thing.

Lust supposed he could wait until the next festival season. He’d probably see her then, but that felt like a very long time. The thought was startling for him. After all, he had nothing but time.

She didn’t, though.

Mortals died all too quickly, and that made him... uncomfortable.

Strange. He hadn’t had that thought in a long while, either.

Tugging on one of his horns, he almost didn’t stop at the captain’s station at all. Maybe he should just find her on his own. Maybe he could go back to Greenbank and ask questions. They wouldn’t deny him an answer to anything he wanted to know.

He stalked through the door and entered the room, where many of his leading guards already were. Apparently, he had missed an important meeting this morning, or they were all talking about how to kill him. It had happened before.

Lifting a hand before the captain spoke, he stalked to the large table in the center of the room that was carved with a map of his kingdom and slapped the fabric down into the center of it. “I need you to find this woman.”

His captain stared at him with a blank expression, while the other remaining four men wore expressions of shock, horror, and intrigue. Curious, he’d expected them to all jump to attention. Not just stand there slack jawed.

“Well?” he said.

“Um.” The captain shook himself free of his stupor. “Who would you like us to find?”

“There was a woman in Greenbank. My footman can tell you more about her if you need information. Dark hair, pale skin, not from the area but for some reason was there. It’s lingering in my mind.”

---